Eurovo, the Italian group based in Imola (BO) and one of the main European leaders in the production and distribution of eggs and egg products, expands its activities in Belgium. It does so by acquiring Hulstaert NV, a Belgian company (based in Sint-Niklaas, the most important city in the Flemish region of Waasland) whose core business is egg products and their shelling. The company is based in Belgium under the brand Fleggs for the food service and food industry segments and already distributed in northern European countries. The acquisition will allow the Imola group to expand into Northern Europe, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. 

As you can read on the website of the Belgian company, "for over 50 years, Hulstaert has been synonymous with 'reliable' egg products. Since 2021, we also offer egg products under the brand name Fleggs, Synonym for high quality egg products in practical and smaller packages. The production of our egg products is carried out semi-automatically with modern machines, by specialized personnel". According to its development program, the Belgian company should close 2025 with a turnover of 15 million euros and a potential production of 10 thousand tons per year.

The Belgian company has 20 employees, a staff which, as says Federico Lionello, the sales and marketing director of the Emilian group, says is "to be reinforced by investments for the optimization of production processes, limited in economic terms but very efficient in technical terms". The transaction, as noted by the manager reported by Il Sole 24 Ore, would be another piece of the growth plan started in the distant 80s and characterized, since then, at least 10 acquisitions.

"We are always on the lookout for interesting opportunities to enter new markets," explains Lionello. Eurovo is currently run by 27 companies in Italy, Spain, France, Romania, Poland and the UK: the group controls a network of production facilities between Italy and abroad, comprising some 20 factories plus livestock the last of which, with 250 thousand hen places, was acquired in France a few days ago. 

The group, with over 2,000 employees and 5,000 customers in 40 countries, achieved a turnover of 1.277 billion euros in 2023.

Eurovo generated a turnover of 20% from exports, mainly with egg powder products destined for Asia and the Middle East, then reaching New Zealand and Africa. Northern Europe is still a small part of the world, for now, and this is why we have acquired the Belgian company Hulstaert which will become, in fact, in the Eurovo galaxy, a bridge to these new markets in Northern Europe, within an industrial plan that aims to increase production. "Also because -says Lionello-, 75% of the cost of producing eggs is given by the raw material made up of cereals very exposed to fluctuations in the markets. In Belgium we are contacting customers of Hulatsert which is a leading company that, for now, has revenues generated mostly from domestic demand"..
 


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